THE MIND SPIDERS: A DPoNI Game

[barsoomcore]

GM: Guess not. Initiative: Mercuro Bad Guys Maru Eloni

"Useless! Worthless!"

Pao continues to rage at the soldiers as he reloads his pistol. Meanwhile, pike ends flail about, smacking both Mercuro and Eloni with brutal force. Maru is for the moment unseen by the main body of the melee, but she now sees a far larger force of soldiers -- at least sixty or more men -- approaching down the quay.

MEANWHILE...

The sounds of fighting overhead do not impede Katsumi's peek into what proves to be the magazine of the ship. The door is stoutly locked and the room within is a narrow compartment lined with cloth sacks and bins.

"There was somebody down here! Look! This line is cut!"

"Pao is too busy. Wen, Chao and Sun; you three head to the magazine, the rest of us will cover the Spiders."

Katsumi also now hears the tramp of booted feet -- in this case several pairs coming down into the hold where he stands.

GM: Mercuro: That's one DC 17 Toughness save for you, please. Eloni: Only four attacking you, but that's THREE DC 17 Toughness saves for you. Maru: You have no one on you at the moment, and it's your turn. Nobody in the melee on deck is paying attention to you. Katsumi: Likely hiding places include: amongst the swaying bales of whatever-it-is, under the stairs, down the next flight of stairs, or possibly through this door if you can figure out how to unlock it and then lock it behind you.

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

OOC: Hmm. I thought I'd gotten above them in the rigging. Toughness Save (1d20-1=8) Toughness Save with Conviction Point (1d20-1=18)

[Hypersmurf]

Katsumi: Likely hiding places include: amongst the swaying bales of whatever-it-is, under the stairs, down the next flight of stairs, or possibly through this door if you can figure out how to unlock it and then lock it behind you.

OOC: As a ninja with ranks in Disable Device, am I assumed to have a lockpick on me somewhere? Or is this a "Make an On-Hand Objects Wealth Check at -10" situation? Or just a "No, suck up the -4"?

[Ovinomancer]

GM: Mercuro: That's one DC 17 Toughness save for you, please. Eloni: Only four attacking you, but that's THREE DC 17 Toughness saves for you. Maru: You have no one on you at the moment, and it's your turn. Nobody in the melee on deck is paying attention to you. Katsumi: Likely hiding places include: amongst the swaying bales of whatever-it-is, under the stairs, down the next flight of stairs, or possibly through this door if you can figure out how to unlock it and then lock it behind you.

OOC: Two more hurt conditions (from a 9, 15, and a 20). So that's three total. Hmm, time to use a Conviction point on Determination and erase all of those hurt conditions. Sadly, even with Eloni's renewed determination, he fails his riposte grab on the one who missed him.

Eloni grunts as the soldiers all land solid blows on him, but he doesn't stagger or falter. It's like beating a rock. A huge, scary rock. A huge, scary, angry rock.

Eloni reaches out and just palms one of the soldiers by the face, lifts him like a rag doll high overhead, and roars, "You have no honor!" as he hurls the Imperial into the knot of attackers, scattering them like bowling pins.

OOC: Right, Eloni makes up for that missed riposte with a vengance. A 22 to grapple one of the Imperials, and a natural 20 (total 25) to toss his dishonorable ass onto as many of his friends as possible. EDIT: If stunting notice for another +2 will get another soldier, Eloni will take a moment to aim for the largest concentration before he throws.

[Alenda]

OOC: If we set sail RIGHT NOW, would the dudes on the quay be able to reach the ship and jump on-board? If not, what would be involved with moving the ship away from the quay as quickly as possible? Is it the simple act of cutting a rope or drawing an anchor? Or, is it more involved than that?

[barsoomcore]

GM: A DC 15 Knowledge (sea lore) check would take care of that. Failing any ranks in that skill, uh, an untrained Intelligence check at DC 15 will give you some idea.

[Alenda]

GM: A DC 15 Knowledge (sea lore) check would take care of that. Failing any ranks in that skill, uh, an untrained Intelligence check at DC 15 will give you some idea.

Intelligence: d20 + 1 = 18.

WHOA! I can't believe I rolled that high! I was certain I was going to fail.

[barsoomcore]

Maru can see that two heavy cables, one strung from the stern near where she is, the other from the bow, keep the junk snug up against the quay.

Without detailed knowledge of the tide, currents and wind, she knows she can't exactly predict how the ship will respond, but at a minimum, those two cables need to be detached. Getting that done before the lead elements of the advancing company arrive will be tough work, but not impossible, she reckons.

GM: It would take a couple of rounds for a hefty guy with an axe to cut through those cables. Alternatively, someone could shimmy down the cable to the dock and undo the simple knot that's holding it to the quay in the same amount of time. Untying it at the ship end would take longer, since it's passed into the hold via a porthole belowdecks, and you'd have to go looking for where it's attached. The bad guys will likely arrive in six rounds or so.

[Alenda]

GM: It would take a couple of rounds for a hefty guy with an axe to cut through those cables. Alternatively, someone could shimmy down the cable to the dock and undo the simple knot that's holding it to the quay in the same amount of time. Untying it at the ship end would take longer, since it's passed into the hold via a porthole belowdecks, and you'd have to go looking for where it's attached. The bad guys will likely arrive in six rounds or so.

OOC: There's no way in heck that Maru will be able to do that, but...

Maru pulls a small foggy globe from the inner pocket of her tunic. She concentrates on the globe, chanting the name of Mercuro. She feels the strands of her consciousness tenuously reach out and touch his.

OOC: Maru is attempting to mind link with Mercuro. He is staggered, so I'm not sure if that effects anything. If successful, Maru will be mentally aiding him. That way if he needs to make a Toughness save to recover from being staggered, I can add a +2 to his roll since my Toughness is higher than his. Also, Maru plans to tell Mercuro about the pack of bad guys, the rope, and the quay, so he can deal with that.

Mind Link: d20 + 8 = 12

[barsoomcore]

GM: Uh, Mind Link allows you to aid someone's Will save, not their Toughness save. A 12 will do the trick, however, if you just want to communicate mentally with him.

[Hypersmurf]

OOC: GM: I still have a question outstanding...

[barsoomcore]

GM: Sorry. Yes, of course you have a lockpick.

[Alenda]

GM: Uh, Mind Link allows you to aid someone's Will save, not their Toughness save. A 12 will do the trick, however, if you just want to communicate mentally with him.

OOC: The description for Mentally Aiding Another says: While in mental contact with another character, you can use the aid action (a standard action) to grant that character a +2 bonus on Will saving throws or on any skill check where your skill rank is equal to or greater than the subject's. I guess I interpreted Toughness as "any other skill check." If Mercuro needs to use the Medicine Skill on himself, would that work as mentally aiding? It's a moot point for now since it's a standard action, and I can't do it until next round.

This round, I'm brain-texting Mercuro.

			Mercuro, there's a huge posse of armed guys heading towards the ship. We need to get out of here fast. That rope over by the big crate is tied to the dock. If you can shimmy down the rope, untie it from the dock, then get back onto the ship pronto, we can set sail and avoid the posse of thugs... Mercuro? Mercuro are you listening to me?

[Hypersmurf]

GM: Katsumi: Likely hiding places include: amongst the swaying bales of whatever-it-is, under the stairs, down the next flight of stairs, or possibly through this door if you can figure out how to unlock it and then lock it behind you.

OOC: Hmm, "stoutly locked". Just checked the Disable Device DCs, and without the time to Take 20, I don't like my chances!

Katsumi grabs the corner of his tunic and gives a sharp jerk, tearing loose a short strip of black fabric, and wedges it in the crack under the locked door... as though, perhaps, a hasty ninja picking the lock and sneaking through had managed to catch the end of his sash when he closed it.

Trusting an alert guard to spot it and deduce that the magazine needs to be unlocked right now before the ninja saboteur can complete his work, Katsumi eases into the shadows under the stairs and extracts a stack of throwing stars from his pouch...

OOC: And "cover the Spiders", hmm? Interesting...

[barsoomcore]

GM: I will take a Bluff check from you, Katsumi...